TOMorrow’s Ideas from TODay’s Middle Schoolers
TomTod stands for “Tomorrow’s Ideas from Today’s Middle Schoolers” because we know middle schoolers are creative, connected, and care deeply about their community. What If 101 is TomTod’s in-school project that empowers middle schoolers to explore and create real ideas to help their community thrive!
SECRET BUTTON SECRET BUTTON SECRET BUTTON
What If 101
In-school class
What If 101 (WI101) is a school-based program that connects middle school students to their community by walking them through the Liberatory Design Thinking process to challenge them to see themselves as community leaders. What If 101 leverages the best of project-based, problem-based, and place-based learning in ways that unlock middle schoolers’ innate altruism.
Using real-world topics as its landscape, What If 101 explores the needs of students’ local community, instructs them in real-world research and project management skills, and allows students to practice social-emotional competencies and 21st-century skills through developing, pitching, and enacting their own ideas.
What If 101 aligns with the Ohio Department of Education’s Social Emotional Learning (SEL) standards and can be incorporated one day a week in an existing classroom.
Get to know the Adventure Curators who lead What If 101 projects!
The goal of What If 101 is to empower middle schoolers to use
their empathy, imagination, and skills to create
the next big idea for our community.
It’s not just a school project.
What If 101 is a real youth-led idea creation journey for our communities!
In What If 101, middle schoolers grow real-world skills alongside real community leaders and professionals to make real ideas that your community really needs.
Since 2012, thousands of middle schoolers have created hundreds of ideas for their community, and TomTod has helped dozens of teams to launch their ideas into reality.
See past What If 101 projects!
See the ideas middle schoolers have launched with TomTod!
Portrait of a TomTod Middle Schooler
TomTod’s 10 C’s are inspired by and adapted from research on Positive Youth Development, 21st-Century Skills, and Social-Emotional Learning
Connected
Engaged in relationships with caring adults, kind peers, and a supportive community.
Competent
Feeling ready and able to use specific skills and knowledge.
Confident
Growing assurance in the ability to enact skills and abilities to meet desired goals.
Caring
Developing empathy & a greater understanding of the perspectives of others.
Character
Taking action to respond to the needs of others through consistent, positive, helpful behaviors.
Critical Thinker
Willing to evaluate and reflect on situations in thoughtful and deliberate ways.
Collaborator
Experienced in working with others towards a common goal.
Creative Innovator
Ready to use imagination to solve problems in unique ways. Ready to try new ideas, fail, and try again.
Communicator
Skilled in sharing knowledge, perspective, and insight (listening, speaking, reading, writing)
Contributor
Motivated and empowered to use ideas, voice, skills, and deliberate actions to make a meaningful impact.
Past and Present Partnering Schools
